It’s a Happy Thursday for me because the World Cup starts tomorrow, which gives us one more thing to pay attention to besides baseball. Some folks don’t think Spain should be favored to win the Cup. Apparently those people haven’t wandered over to Deadspin to see the UNBELIEVABLE way they moved the ball for a goal against Poland…

Another inspired performance last night at OPACY, and by “inspired” I mean ZZZZZZZ….

As if beating CC Sabathia wasn’t tough enough, Chris Tillman and Cesar Izturis (as well as Luke Scott) thought defense blunders might help the cause. Of course, Tillman threw pretty well and Izturis had two hits (if he gets 3 tonight, I owe Drew Forrester a dollar!), but sadly-you have to do more than one thing well in baseball to win.

Last night was really one of those “unwatchable” types of games we’ve grown so accustomed to. The weather sucked, the stadium was empty, there was no excitement, there was no interest, there was no passion, there was no way to enjoy watching the game.

16-43 now. Why shouldn’t the team be under .300? All of the hitters in the lineup are…

I certainly didn’t go to the game last night, so I can’t even begin to estimate how many folks might have actually been in the building-but if they can’t sell tickets when the Yanks are in town, they’re in real trouble.

And by “real trouble”, I mean that if future games against the Bronx Bombers and Boston Red Sox are attended at an equally poorly level; this franchise could be in trouble.

They have to make money. The MASN TV deal will help them a great deal over the next few years, but it can’t save the future of the franchise. Only winning can do that.

For the record, Garrett Atkins had a hit and a RBI last night. Take that, haters.

And apparently he’s only ever had one formal discussion with Andy MacPhail during Andy’s tenure in Charm City. Hard to believe.

I’m not as much in the Rick Dempsey camp as some others in town are. I think his relationship with Peter Angelos is one of the reasons why he’s NOT an ideal candidate. This team doesn’t need a manager that will work as a “yes man” for a DREADFUL owner. I don’t know that Rick Dempsey IS that guy, but I know he’s came off that way in interviews.

Speaking of potential managerial candidates, if you missed former Milwaukee Brewers/Detroit Tigers/Houston Astros manager Phil Garner this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST, make sure you head on over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault to check it out. Other guests this morning included our own O’s reporter Luke Jones; as well as our World Cup analysis with Loyola coach Mark Mettrick and Maryland soccer coach Sasho Cirovski.

Not exactly the way you’d want to make your major league debut, but I guess you have to make your debut against someone. When you’re debuting for the worst team in baseball, no matter who you go up against-they’re going to be better than you.

Of course, according to the man selected by “The Great Arbitrator” as “Apologist of the Morning” today-James Baker from Oriole Post-it isn’t fair. Baker says….

“Strasburg gets the Pirates; Arrieta gets the Yankees. If that doesn’t illustrate the gaping difference between the AL East and the NL East then I don’t know what will.”

Well James, I know this much. The NL East doesn’t have a single team in the division that has just 16 wins.

And before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that the Birds ARE back in action tonight-Jake Arrieta faces AJ Burnett with first pitch at 7:05pm from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. You can see the game on MASN, where Eddie Murray has actually really added something to a series that would otherwise be dreadful to watch.

I’d say I think the Orioles could win tonight…if I thought the Orioles could win tonight. I really just hope Arrieta can go 6 innings. I’m just not necessarily expecting it.

-Lucas is a 6 foot, 31 year old veteran who has split his career between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers-having returned to the Emerald City last season. He compiled 6 interception seasons in both 2004 and 2005, but tallied just 1 a season ago.

-Harris is a 5’11”, 35 year old veteran who has played for the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers. He made the Pro Bowl in 2006, but missed all of last season with a torn ACL.

-Hamlin is a 6’2″, 29 year old veteran safety who has split his career between the Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys. He was a Pro Bowler in 2007, but played in just 12 games in 2009.

None of the players in this bunch is “the answer” in the secondary, but they could offer some help.

The Ravens are back in action today at 1 Winning Drive, Luke Jones and I will be over in Owings Mills to cover everything going on-and if the team signs one of these veteran DB’s, we’ll get it to you via our WNST Text Service. Also make sure you’re following on Twitter, you can follow us @WNST.

It will be interesting to see whether or not Jared Gaither has returned to practice. My guess is no, but we’ll find out.

We missed him this morning because he actually has a JOB to do, but we’ll have Bino with us tomorrow morning at 8:05 on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST.

In the meantime, a congratulations both to him and to the University, as this appears to be a tremendous hire. Bino’s connections to Juan Dixon clearly played a major role in getting the St. Frances Academy alum to College Park, and he’ll be expected to help keep Baltimore talent in-state.

I can already tell you he won’t get it all. No one could have swerved Josh Selby to Maryland instead of Kansas. But if he gets more than they HAVE been getting in College Park, it will make a lot of us happy.

Don’t even get me started. I don’t like anything about the conference re-alignment situation, and I’m not convinced that Maryland would be helped by moving into the Big Ten in EITHER sport. Yes, it means they get Big Ten Network money, and games against Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State every few years at Byrd Stadium. But they lose hoops games against Carolina and Duke.

It might be good for money. It might be good for competition in basketball.

Rumor has it that by “academic progress”, they actually meant “disturbing fans”…

This is SOMEWHAT serious, but a difficult situation for Todd Bozeman and Donald Hill-Eley. To get talent in the MEAC, you have to take a shot on some kids that have less than desirable academic standards. It’s a tough spot.

And finally, I leave you with this.

Here’s the video of Jeremy Roenick crying after the Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers to win the Stanley Cup last night. I know he’s a tough guy and all, but isn’t there no crying in NHL Hockey???

It’s a Happy Wednesday for me because Bleacher Report (and this is DEFINITELY an example of knowing what you do well) put together a list of the “Top 25 Hottest Blondes in Sports.” The list features most of the names you’d imagine (Anna Kournikova is #2), but UNBELIEVABLY the #1 on the list is someone I’ve never heard of-Ana Paula Mancino…

Apparently she’s some sort of volleyball player from Brazil. Not that it matters. How does “Ana Paula Clark” sound?

The Orioles are so bad that even Mark Teixeira figured out a way to get healthy in this one.

If there was ever a game when the score was not really an accurate portrayal of what happened, it was last night.

New York ran up the score, then at least had the decency to put in the backup QB and call nothing but run plays so as not to embarrass Juan Samuel’s crew. I don’t like Joe Girardi, but he’s done that a couple of times this season-and I thank him for it.

That being said, apparently some folks in town don’t understand that when Kevin Russo, Ramiro Pena and Chad Gaudin come into a game; nothing that happens after that point really matters.

It’s with that in mind that I congratulate our “Apologist of the Morning” as selected by “The Great Arbitrator” Drew Forrester this morning. Roch Kubatko’s recap of last night’s game over at MASN’s website was headlined “When 7 Runs and 15 Hits Aren’t Enough”, and the first line of the write-up read…

“The Orioles’ offense has been the subject of ridicule and scorn for much of the season, so it’s only fair to point out that it did plenty to deliver a win tonight.”

Look, the O’s did a heck of a job to scratch 3 runs across against Phil Hughes in 2 out situations when the game was still (kinda) in the balance. I’m not trying to take that away from them. But to say that scoring 4 runs after the game was already over means the offense did enough to “deliver a win” is basically admitting that you didn’t really pay attention to what was happening.

The remarkable thing about last night’s performance is that EVERYONE in the Orioles lineup had at least one hit…except of course Cesar Izturis. That’s significant because Drew bet me yesterday that Izturis would figure out a way to get 5 hits during the Yanks series.

I always appreciate free money.

Of course, the strangest thing about last night was how many times Yankees players decided to just let a ball drop in front of them instead of diving to make a play. I understand that Curtis Granderson’s slam meant the game was basically over before it had ever started; but the effort was at times downright Oriole-like.

I don’t like anything about Eric Wedge as manager. In fact, I’d prefer Eric Matthews to Eric Wedge…

I don’t think I’d like Bobby Valentine either. I just don’t know that he’d be as interested in being ORIOLES manager as he would be in bring ANY team’s manager.

Bob Melvin is still my 1 seed, I’ll put together a Top 3 list at some point of guys I’d like to see get the job. Of course, I’d really just like to see someone who can WIN get the job, but it’s hard to force that amongst the qualifications.

Thanks to our buddy Kris Cumberland for forwarding me over what Roy Firestone had to say about B-Rob over at OriolesHangout.com…

“Its not just the injury..its the stop and start of any attempts at the rehab.
Im not even suggesting that Brian isnt a “gamer”. He is one of the toughest and most durable players this organization has seen in many years.
But if its not one thing ..its another.Its delays and pneumonia, and intermittent pain..I am very very worried and Im not talking about just this year.
This is very serious stuff.
I heard a very reliable source in the Orioles organization fretting about possible major back surgery..and even possible retirement.
This is not something I take as “loose talk.” Not if you knew who said it.
I hope I am 100% wrong, but I have serious doubts as to whether Brian will back at all this year.Really, what is the upside? To win a few games and risk even more serious setbacks?
Its just such a major loss to this ballclub, its almost incalcuable.”

I’ve been VERY concerned about Brian since the news first came down during Spring Training, and the club began posturing after that.

There has be at LEAST a concern that in a worst case scenario this could lead to the end of Brian’s career, and at LEAST there is a chance that this could make a significant impact on the rest of his career.

And after making the pick, Andy MacPhail called Klein and said to him “the good news is that we play the Yankees and Mets this week. We won’t be needing anyone for a save situation for the next few days. But if we somehow able to get a lead against the Giants next week, how quickly can you get to San Francisco?”

Worth pointing out from the group of players selected yesterday is 5th round pick Connor Narron, son of former Reds and Rangers manager Jerry Narron. I say “worth pointing out” because you might recognize the name, not because I think you’d know anything about the player.

Before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that they continue their series against the Bronx Bombers tonight; first pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is at 7:05pm. The good news is that Stephen Strasburg isn’t pitching on MASN2, so there might be some people who are actually interested tonight!

CC Sabathia brings a 12-1 career record against the Orioles into the game against Chris Tillman, who has made 14 career starts. But I’m sure Tillman will do just fine! Our own Luke Jones will be at OPACY, you can join him for our “Orange Cush” chat here at WNST.net.

Gaither was one of 10 Ravens not out at 1 Winning Drive, the list also included Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Willis McGahee, Matt Birk, Le’Ron McClain, Oniel Cousins, Trevor Pryce, Terrell Suggs and Jarret Johnson. Some players missed for health reasons (Cousins had a throat procedure), others were more puzzling absences (Gaither comes to mind).

You can hear from some of the guys who WERE there in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today; including John Harbaugh, Chris Carr, Todd Heap, Haloti Ngata, Shayne Graham and Derrick Mason. The Ravens are back at work in Owings Mills today and tomorrow; with tomorrow being the final OTA practice and the last chance for us to see the Ravens before Training Camp.

As I’ve said a few times, the only real “issue” in all of this is whether or not John Harbaugh has “lost” some or all of the locker room due to working them too hard, or forcing them to work longer days than expected. While clearly there are players who aren’t exactly thrilled with the amount of work they’ve been forced to do, it does not appear as though the locker room has been “lost.”

That being said, Harbaugh has to walk a delicate line moving forward, as he needs to continue to be tough with the team yet not offend them or cross the line. Hopefully he learned from this experience, and things will be fine moving forward.

Hopefully moving forward we will also see more pictures of Emily Scott from Ralph Magazine posted at Guyism…

And as I said yesterday via Twitter (follow us @WNST), this is a shame because it means the team will no longer have anyone on the roster with lower case letters on the back of their jersey.

Ravens rookie TE Dennis Pitta isn’t going to be released any time soon; he joined “The Morning Reaction” today on AM1570 WNST. Make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today to check it out. Other guests on the show included Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith (who previewed the Baltimore County World Soccer Festival), Rich Dubroff from the AP & Carroll County Times (who was at Nats Park last night and recapped “Strasmas”) and Baltimore Blast head coach Danny Kelly, who went around the World Cup.

The first full squad practice is Friday, July 30th. Alert the folks at the Chick-Fil-A right down the street from McDaniel College, as a certain Glenn Clark will be there frequently. Especially now that they’ve added pickles to the Spicy Chicken Sandwich…

(Edit from GMC: I’m not cheating. My preferred Chick-Fil-A remains the Chick-Fil-A in Nottingham Square. In fact, I feel like I’ll be in the White Marsh area today…)

It’s a Happy Tuesday for me because I really find Aziz Ansari from “Parks and Recreation” to be quite funny. Not enough to spend hours watching the MTV Movie Awards, but certainly enough to head over to YouTube and giggle at this clip of him and Zach Galifianakis…

I hope that at some point Machado becomes a Baltimore Oriole, and if he does I hope he turns out to be a really good player. I also hope that Machado isn’t sitting in Frederick in 4 years the way Billy Rowell currently is.

I guess I’m just trying to keep things in perspective. Believe me, even I think it’s crazy that I’M trying to offer perspective-but getting excited about a kid who isn’t even old enough to VOTE might be okay for NBA fans, but not for baseball fans.

Hopefully we’re ALL excited about him in a few years though. It burns the HELL out of me that fans in Washington have something to be excited about tonight.

I pray to God that Manny Machado is a THIRD of the player either one of these guys has been.

The Orioles will continue making picks in the MLB Entry Draft today, starting with the 85th overall pick-the 3rd pick in the 3rd round. Luke Jones will check in with profiles on the players the team selects throughout the day.

I would do it myself…but…umm…I’d rather sit and watch clothes circle around my washing machine??? Hell, I’d rather watch the Orioles play.

First pitch tonight is at 7:05pm at OPACY, Phil Hughes faces Kevin Millwood-if you’d like to avoid the 20,000 New York fans who will be in attendance you can check the game out on MASN. Luke Jones will be hosting our “Orange Crush” chat tonight at WNST.net.

I’d say I was picking the Orioles to win tonight…If I thought the Orioles were capable of winning tonight.

If you missed YES Network Yanks analyst Ken Singleton this morning with Drew Forrester on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST, make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault and check it out. Other guests this morning included Baseball Prospectus Draft analyst Kevin Goldstein and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won his first Belmont Stakes (or Triple Crown race at all) with Drosselmeyer Saturday.

-Brian Roberts’ return has been delayed…again…and I get the feeling I’m not the only one who’s wondering if Brian Roberts will EVER be the same. In his Sun blog, Peter Schmuck pointed out that surgery is commonly an option with those dealing with herniated discs. If surgery is an option for B-Rob at this point, I have NO IDEA why the organization wouldn’t just have him go ahead and get it done.

-Congratulations to our “Apologist of the Morning”, from the Weaver’s Tantrum Blog…”Dave Mc”, as selected by “The Great Arbitrator”. Dave wrote something comparing Will Ohman this year to George Sherrill last year in terms of trade value. Here’s what he said in closing…

“I think we will find that Sherrill gets a healthier return than Ohman, but there are still plenty of teams that will put together a quality package for Ohman this year.”

And if by “quality package” he meant “player to be named later”, I think I’d agree with him.

There was rampant speculation yesterday about who in the locker room out in Owings Mills may have been the one to blow the whistle on John Harbaugh and staff; with guesses ranging from Jared Gaither to Willis McGahee to even Rex Ryan. The word is that NONE of them were the guilty party, and that’s why I was a bit uncomfortable with speculating to begin with.

I’m really unmoved by this. A number of teams have been accused of running practices too long, or being too tough in practice, or something along those lines. In fact, a number of Cleveland Browns players were unhappy with Eric Mangini for something along those lines.

The only real issue here is whether or not John Harbaugh has run the risk of losing the locker room by being particularly tough in practice. It doesn’t appear as though that’s the case, so this shouldn’t REALLY end up being much of a big deal.

Credit where credit’s due: there’s a fake Juan Samuel on Twitter (@NotJuanSamuel) who Tweeted us last night (follow us @WNST) to say “Do not think too much “intensity” in practice will be a problem for my team. Or games for that matter.”

Before we move on from the Ravens, a reminder that we’ll be out there today at 1 Winning Drive for Passing Camp; and you will be able to hear all of the thoughts from John Harbaugh, as well as the players who are gathered out there today. Make sure you’re tuned in with Rex Snider and Ray Bachman throughout the day. Despite it now being the final week of OTA practices, I’m not expecting to see the likes of Ray Lewis and company present today.

Which will be a sign to some that maybe the Maryland job wasn’t quite the “anyone would want this job” gig some in College Park thought it might be.

In fact, in talking with Patrick and others who cover lacrosse, I’ve heard a few times that folks really believe the Big Red job is a BETTER job than the one that Dave Cottle just left.

It might be tough to stomach, but considering the fact that Cornell has reached the last two Final Fours and has clearly shown they are capable of winning a NCAA Championship; I think I might believe it.

Most in the lacrosse circles believe Cantabene, Albany coach Scott Marr and Syracuse assistant Lelan Rogers to be the three top candidates now that Tambroni and Mike Pressler have passed. I would assume that Maryland will get ONE of those three guys, but I’m guess Cantabene is probably third on the list.

It’s a Happy Friday for me because…well…because it’s Friday. Sure, I got kicked out of Yankee Stadium yesterday just for being an Orioles fan…which SHOULD be an “ejectable offense” the more I think about how silly it is to root for this team.

Before we get to “Trembley Watch 2010”, how about we start this thing on a positive? Deadspin posted a soccer goal the other day that makes me think even I could participate in the World Cup…

Well, the few innings that I got to see of it-it looked just like Orioles baseball to me.

It was hard to even be excited when Luke Scott and Adam Jones homered, as we knew it meant a rally wasn’t coming. Kevin Millwood wasn’t up to the level of effectiveness that we’ve come to expect from him this season, but who can blame him?

Plus, the Yankees ARE really good. Alex Rodriguez wasn’t even TRYING to hit a homerun when he did. They have a lineup that is so good that a guy who would quite possibly be the AL MVP right now (Robinson Cano) is hitting 5th! They have a lineup that is so good Mark Teixeira is barely hitting better than Mark Wahlberg thus far, and the team is mostly unconcerned.

It doesn’t make it unfair that the Orioles have to compete against the Yankees in the AL East. It makes it unfair that the Orioles don’t TRY to compete against the Yankees in the AL East.

And by the way, don’t take a look at the MLB standings at any point (unless for some strange reason you absolutely have to). The only thing you’ll see is that the Birds are currently 15.5 games back…of FOURTH PLACE.

In the end, there will be no crying over the end of Dave Trembley’s tenure, as no one REALLY thinks Dave Trembley is a good manager. That being said, he was never given a respectable group of players capable of actually winning…anything.

No sadness today for Dave Trembley, who might well be a nice guy (as Roch Kubatko said), but never really showed himself to be capable of managing.

As far as Juan Samuel is concerned…umm…okay? I know this isn’t a permanent move, but it isn’t inspiring long term OR short term. The Orioles will presumably start looking for a manager in the Bob Melvin/Buck Showalter/Tom Kelly/etc. crowd, although there is an argument that they should let Samuel finish the season and then actually conduct a FULL search in the offseason.

For the record, I’d sign off on Bob Melvin being hired. Having covered him in Phoenix when he managed the Arizona Diamondbacks, I’ve seen him take a team to the NLCS whose best players were Chris Young and Eric Byrnes. That being said, no one should have any reason to believe the team will get any THIS season under any manager. They’re not a good team, and some of the players who HAVE performed may well be shipped elsewhere.

Hopefully there will be both a respectable manager in the dugout and a respectable team on the field come Opening Day 2011. In the meantime, this remains hopeless no matter who’s managing.

The blood is on MacPhail’s hands. He’s in charge, and he didn’t give the manager a REAL chance to win-despite the fact that the manager really wasn’t any good.

MacPhail’s “plan” looks almost laughable at this point, with only the young pitchers (and Nick Markakis) looking like actual major league players right now. This is a CRUCIAL offseason for MacPhail, as the team HAS to be better next season for there to be any reason for any of us to believe that MacPhail actually does know what he’s doing in Baltimore.

Yes, I’m talking about the offseason 54 games into this season. What else would I do?

It’s like a broken damn record, but GOD does it ever suck to be an Orioles fan right now.

-Congratulations to “Apologist of the Morning” Peter DiLutis, who we have decided that we will also “fire” from AOTM consideration today. Peter has toed the line of “Apologist” and “Idiot” for the better part of the season, and today’s thoughts that the Trembley firing would “spark fan interest” went down the “idiotic” role. Drew Forrester “The Great Arbitrator” selected him over Roch Kubatko AND Dave Trembley, and I will apologize to both of them for being mentioned in the same sentence as the kid.

-The Orioles actually DO play again tonight, but only because they have to. They’ll open a weekend set with the Boston Red Sox; with first pitch on MASN from Oriole Park at Camden Yards at 7:05pm. Chris Tillman makes the start for the Birds, Clay Buchholz opposes him for the Sox. I’ll assume a sweep-but I would probably assume a sweep against just about anyone.

As I said yesterday via Twitter (follow us @WNST), it is safe to call Graham the favorite in his competition against Billy Cundiff this summer in Training Camp; but he’ll have to show that he’s moved past the issues that lead him to miss two big kicks in the Cincinnati Bengals’ Wild Card loss to the New York Jets. If he struggles, Cundiff will still have a chance to leave Westminster with NFL employment.

Graham has the chance to make up to $2.5 million this season via incentives. Hopefully those incentives include NOT MISSING KICKS.

And with all of this said, there’s still another part of the equation here. Matt Katula HAS to have a better season snapping the ball. If he struggles again, this could look very similar to the Steve Hauschka – Graham Gano competition from a year ago.

Which is sorta why my expectations (FOR THIS SEASON) are higher for Terrence Cody than they are for Sergio Kindle. He has to learn a new position (as he was mostly a pass rusher at Texas) that is particularly complicated. I think Sergio Kindle is going to be a very impressive player, I just don’t know that it’s going to be at the Rookie of the Year caliber level that he is hoping to perform at this season.

By the way, if you missed Sergio Kindle (and Terrence Cody and Ed Dickson and Arthur Jones) at our Miller Lite Purple Rookies Show Wednesday night at Casey’s in Towson; you can hear from ALL of them in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault right here at WNST.net.

Not that he ever really WAS a candidate this time around. Gait has done a nice job coaching the women at Syracuse, but his coaching experience just really doesn’t fit the bill of what’s necessary for the Terps as they look to replace Dave Cottle.

Also cross Rick Sowell off the list, as the Stony Brook coach received a contract extension to stay put there.

The list is still LONG. Kevin Corrigan, Mike Pressler, Jeff Tambroni and Don Zimmerman are still probably the most likely candidates…probably. At least maybe.

And Duke’s Ned Crotty won the award on the men’s side. Crotty was clearly the best player in the game this year, I just couldn’t have voted for him because I am particularly opposed to the 5th year Blue Devils.

That being said, both are very deserving honors for the best players in college lacrosse.

And we’re very deserving of looking at pictures of Rose Byrne from GQ, as posted by Guyism…

I understand why ESPN3 if good for the ACC and company, but the league needs to work out a way that games shown on ESPN3 can also be shown over the air in local markets. For example, if the game is on ESPN3 (the old ESPN360)-there should be an option for Comcast SportsNet to carry the ESPN broadcast.

ESPNU is good for no one…unless of course you have ESPNU. I do not. And I’m the most important person here.

For a differing opinion, Rick from Reisterstown selected the favorite (Ice Box) to win when he called the race this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST. I’ll pick Make Music For Me, mostly because he has the best name in the race.

If you missed Rick this morning, you can hear it in the Audio Vault. It will be available later via WNSTv. Other guests from this morning you can hear in the Audio Vault include Baseball America’s Jim Callis, NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra (HardBallTalk) and NESN Sox pre-game host Tom Caron.

It’s a Happy Wednesday for me because the new Jack Johnson disc “To The Sea” came out yesterday. It’s pretty good. Good enough that I’ll make “The Upsetter” this week’s “Greatest Song of All Time This Week”…

Our girl Jen Royle described it as one of the most “heartbreaking” losses of the season. The rest of us barely even noticed it happened. In fact, as the game was coming to a close; I was getting in my car to go check out Shrek (which was okay) over at The Avenue in White Marsh. This wasn’t heartbreaking, this was Orioles Baseball 2010.

Javier Vasquez was the most likely of the 3 pitchers going for the Yanks this week for the Orioles to have a chance against. So…scratch that.

As far as the Tejada play is concerned, Tejada should have been able to get the throw there, and Wigginton should have been able to make the scoop. Of course, Tejada isn’t really a good MLB 3rd baseman, and Wigginton isn’t really a good MLB 1st baseman, so it’s hard for me to be made about any of it.

Which means he knows enough to make him qualified to talk about the team.

The Orioles ARE a failure.

Peter Schmuck wrote something this morning about the Orioles needing to do the right thing and let Dave Trembley go. We discussed it on the morning show, and I will admit (although I’m going to break out in hives doing it), that I might sign off on Andy MacPhail NOT firing Dave Trembley during the season.

If the Orioles DO fire Trembley (and we all know they should), they’re left with two options:

1-Hire someone in house (like Juan Samuel or Brad Komminsk) for the rest of the season on an interim basis. The risk associated with a move like this is that the team might somehow actually WIN a few games with a new manager. It’s unlikely, but it’s (I guess) possible. If they could find a way to win a few games, they may be forced to keep a guy like Samuel or Komminsk around, especially if they appear to have developed chemistry with guys like Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Brian Matusz who actually are part of “The Plan.”

2-The team could go out and hire a real manager like Bob Melvin or Tom Kelly; but they’d be handing them a terrible team. The reality is that the team is still likely to trade away a few guys who have been productive this season (Luke Scott, Kevin Millwood, Ty Wigginton, Miguel Tejada are all possibilities); and they’ll have little chance to win games. Bringing a new manager into a losing culture doesn’t bode well for creating a “new atmosphere” moving forward.

The only person who could manage the team the rest of the season and wins and losses would be irrelevant would be Dave Trembley.

The issue is, I can never sign off on doing something that involves winning being irrelevant.

Every day the Orioles allow Dave Trembley to manage the team, they’re saying winning is irrelevant-as the Orioles are NOT winning.

Much like the team, this is a no win situation. The team has no one to blame but themselves, as they came into the season with no chance of winning-and this is what they deserve for that.

As far as fixing it, they might not have much of a choice but to let Trembley finish the season.

-The Orioles are back in action tonight-apparently their petition to cancel the rest of the games was denied by Bud Selig. Brad Bergesen goes to the hill against Phil Hughes, first pitch at Yankee Stadium on MASN is at 7:05pm.

-We still have a few spots left on our Miller Lite Orange Bus Trip to The Bronx tomorrow; as we’ll watch Kevin Millwood hopefully pick up his first win since coming to Baltimore against CC Sabathia. Seeing as how there’s going to be Miller Lite and Chick-Fil-A Nottingham Square is catering breakfast, I’d be fine if we were going to see an AHL game. Some of our roster might as well be in the AHL anyway.

This has been one of the stranger offseason storylines I can remember. It was known that Kokinis was coming back months ago-but for some reason the team wouldn’t talk about it. In fact, when I asked John Harbaugh about it at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, he not only blew the question off, he appeared to be about ready to strange me after that.

There is a rumor that the team had to remain quiet about it because of a pending lawsuit Kokinis has with the Cleveland Browns. There’s also a rumor that the team remained quiet about it as they were trying to define his role alongside Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta.

Who knows what the reason really is, but it seems like bringing back a respected personnel man to the organization can’t possibly be a bad thing for anyone involved.

I’m not sure why it’s taken this long (and it still isn’t done by the way) for the team to make this happen, but this is a welcome addition to the team. Hopefully Graham and Cundiff will push each otehr not only during the remaining OTA’s, but also when they get to Westminster for Training Camp.

Of course, this isn’t exactly like picking between Kelly Brook and Megan Fox in a beauty contest. There’s a reason the Cincinnati Bengals parted ways with Shayne Graham after last season (his two misses in the Wild Card game against the New York Jets were certainly a big part of that), and Billy Cundiff was adequate but not exceptional for the Ravens.

Also, the Ravens had hoped that Steve Hauschka and Graham Gano would push each other at McDaniel College last summer, but it didn’t exactly translate to much success for either guy. Simply having a competition doesn’t mean the competitors are primed to succeed.

For the record, after looking at the pictures of Kelly Brook from FHM United Kingdom that Guyism posted yesterday, there’s half a chance I’d pick her OVER Megan Fox…

-We will be out at 1 Winning Drive today for Rookie Camp, and will have updates during the day via Twitter (@WNST). You’ll be able to hear from John Harbaugh and players this afternoon with Rex Snider and Ray Bachman on AM1570.

-TONIGHT is our annual Purple Rookies Show at Casey’s in Towson. This is your chance to hear from and meet the NEWEST Baltimore Ravens, including Sergio Kindle and Terrence Cody. It’s going to be a lot of fun, make sure you come out and meet the new guys! If for some reason you miss the show tonight, it will air tomorrow morning at 9am after Nestor Aparicio fills in for Drew Forrester and I on “The Morning Reaction.”

Neither of these guys is going to be selected in the NBA Draft, but I expect both of them to get a shot on a NBA Summer League roster in Las Vegas this year; where they’ll have a chance to crack a roster. Both have valuable skills, but are incomplete players. They have something to offer, but it will have to be a right fit type of situation.

Holmes was SUPPOSED to join us this morning on “The Morning Reaction”, but missed it due to another workout. We’ll get him later in the week. In the meantime, make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today and check out Drew’s chats with Justin Gimelstob (the former tennis player and now Tennis Channel analyst who checked in with a live update from the French Open in Paris), Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl (who previewed the World Cup before heading over to South Africa), and Bowie Baysox INF Brandon Waring.

It’s a Happy Thursday for me because 1-The Phoenix Suns won last night; putting the whole “Los Suns” thing to rest; and 2-After 2 weeks of missing it, I finally get to update “The Greatest Song of All Time This Week.”

The good news here is that had I known this song existed before I left for Louisville, “The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet” may have broken up with me out of frustration because I insisted on keeping the song on repeat on my iPod…

I miss Nappy Roots so much. This isn’t TECHNICALLY Nappy Roots (it’s actually rapper KD with two members of Nappy Roots), but you get the point. You DO get the point, don’t you?

“My Old Kentucky Home” gave me goosebumps when I heard it at the Kentucky Derby. “My Kentucky Home” makes me bop my head shake my ass. They’re similar feelings really.

Of course, don’t tell that to our buddy Demsey’s Army; or @DempseysArmy via Twitter. He said…

“David Hernandez may never be very good but he certainly has balls. Unflappable.”

Unflappable, unsuccessful…they’re very similar thought processes.

Of course, DA was the easy choice this morning from “The Great Arbitrator” Drew Forrester for “Apologist of the Morning” on AM1570 WNST’s “The Morning Reaction.”

Hernandez was brutal yesterday, but the O’s were at least able to make it interesting once Andy Pettitte was forced to leave the game. The Yanks might have a real issue on their hands dealing with their older players. Of course, I’d gladly take that issue myself if I could have the players on their team.

Since I wasn’t in Baltimore this weekend, I will be forced to admit that I’m starting to wonder if the sweep of the Red Sox really ever did happen.

If I had seen it with my own eyes, it would be easier to believe, but I will admit that I’m starting to wonder if it was nothing more than a cruel civic prank that every last one of you was in on.

Credit the Orioles’ bullpen for 4.1 innings of relief without giving up an earned run. The bullpen HAS pitched well of late, although there still isn’t a closer and I’m not sure the team even still remembers what the defined roles were for each pitcher back when the season started.

By the way, how funny was it to see Rick Kranitz get tossed early yesterday? It gave me the feeling of “What the hell am I going to do here anyway?”

Kudos to Orioles fans for their almost unanimous reaction to the news. I pulled some highlights from the Baltimore Sun’s comment section after Jeff Zrebiec first posted the story…

–“I find this kind of funny from the man who assembled this mess. Threats don’t motivate players; better talent does, and MacPhail has failed miserably with his “grow the arms and buy the bats” philosophy.”
–“I didn’t notice anywhere in the article where Andy took personal responsibility for selecting the players on the team. Is it too much to ask that he say he is personally responsible for the failures on the team instead of just pointing the finger?”
–“He should have said, “Sometimes you have to take into account I have complied a team that looks like an expansion roster.””
–“How about he send himself to Norfolk for assembling this crap-tastic team. Lets see, we needed a SS, Clean-up hitter, and top of the rotation starter when he first got here….and we still need a SS, clean up hitter, and top of the rotation starter years later.”
–“So, is MacPhail basically saying, “I crapped the bed this offseason?””

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

If MacPhail is angry about how the lineup has performed, maybe he should ask himself why the lineup didn’t have any real power hitters/run producers.

And before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that the Birds now head to Minnesota for their first ever series against the Twins at Target Field. Game 1 is tonight at 8:10pm, and can be seen on MASN2. Brad Bergesen (gulp) is scheduled to face Carl Pavano, and we’ll be chatting about it in our “Orange Crush” at WNST.net, which I believe will be hosted by the great Bob Haynie.

I’d be more excited about the game tonight, but Iron Man 2 comes out at midnight. Priorities, people.

As I wrote yesterday, don’t get worked up about this. Ed Reed had an injured hip/groin that forced him to miss four games. Like other players who miss time due to injuries, he decided to have offseason surgery.

Really a “nothing to see here” type of story.

Ed has told anyone that will listen this offseason that he’ll be back on the field this season as long as he’s healthy enough to be out there. John Harbaugh, Ozzie Newsome, etc. are all working under the assumption that Reed will return.

I wandered over to Unitas Stadium just in time for the 3rd quarter last night. By the time the 3rd quarter was over, I was ready to begin my Cinco de Mayo festivities.

It was an impressive performance in the 2nd half last night for Tony Seaman’s club. Seaman will join Drew Forrester tomorrow morning at 8:05 to preview Saturday’s CAA Championship Game, where Towson will host Delaware.

And in no world do I believe that a HEN is capable of beating a TIGER.

We can lament, or we can look at these pictures of Cassie Keller, who is apparently starring in some rip-off video called “Miss Gruber” that Playboy put together. I support everything about it, and thank Busted Coverage for the discovery…

Don’t bother asking me which one is Cassie. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.

I really think there was an issue with Ice Box’s knees last week. He had them wrapped on Friday morning, and Zito didn’t appear happy. He ran particularly well, especially considering the bad trip he got, having run into traffic twice coming down the stretch.

Given that the Preakness is a BIT shorter, I don’t know that Ice Box was necessarily going to be a favorite at Pimlico-but he would certainly be amongst the favorites.

And to appease Chris Bonetti, here’s a picture of “Ice Box” from the movie Little Giants now all grown up…

And if you missed Kentucky Derby-winning trainer of Super Saver Todd Pletcher on with Drew Forrester this morning, check it out in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net.

And finally, I leave you with this.

Everyone in the world has posted the Bobby Cox/Bobby Cocks cake picture, but it’s STILL funny. Well played United States Senate.

It’s a Happy Wednesday for me because last night was the annual “Undie Run” at Arizona State University. As someone who lived right down the street from ASU for two years, I can’t even BEGIN to explain what a good idea this is…

The failure to copy this idea at Towson University is absolutely UNTHINKABLE. The University of Maryland is putting together their first ever Undie Run in 6 days, and they’ll have a lot to live up to…

AJ Burnett is a hell of a pitcher. He might not be Roy Halladay, but he’s pretty damn good.

That being said-it is UNACCEPTABLE to have runners on 2nd & 3rd base with no outs and then see Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters strike out. It’s just unacceptable. There’s no other way to put it.

What Gary Thorne, Mike Flanagan and Ben McDonald said during the MASN broadcast was telling however. With runners and 2nd and 3rd with none out, the pressure in that situation was somehow on the Orioles hitters and NOT on Burnett.

How could it have EVER come to this?

ALL of the pressure was on the Orioles hitters. Instead of going to the plate and thinking “cool, another spot to drive in some more runs”, Orioles hitters were thinking something along the lines of “oh dear God I better get a hit here because I have no idea if we’ll ever get a chance like this again!”

How telling was it that in the bottom of the inning; after Jones misplayed Francisco Cervelli’s single into a triple; Dave Trembley decided to pull the infield in.

In the THIRD inning.

Watching the Orioles is slightly less fun than going to the dentist at this point.

Maybe I’m the one responsible for this. I went away to hang out at the Kentucky Derby over the weekend, and the Orioles swept the Red Sox in 3 games I couldn’t even watch on TV. I’ve been able to actually SEE the O’s win exactly FOUR games this season!

FOUR!

The Orioles had no RBI at all last night, and haven’t driven a runner in from scoring position YET through two games at Yankee Stadium.

Brian Matusz was by no means bad last night, although he did walk in a run.

It’s just like a continuous nightmare.

I know what will brighten our spirits….a picture of Serinda Swan from BarstoolSports.com…

And believe it or not, it ISN’T just by putting a Ben’s Chili Bowl inside the stadium…

I seriously credit Nats President Stan Kasten for saying the right thing when asked about low attendance. When you have a bad product (like the Nationals HAVE had; and the Orioles certainly DO have), it’s YOUR fault. YOU need to fix it.

And if Dave Trembley just said the wrong thing out of frustration when asked about attendance, Andy MacPhail just just make a statement to “correct” him.

Or the team can keep allowing the fans to be blamed for the bad product. That’s a good idea too.

While Ernie Harwell has very LITTLE to do with Baltimore, it is certainly worth discussing this. Harwell represented what fans used to LOVE about baseball-especially in towns like Baltimore. He will be SORELY missed.

Just try watching this without tearing up. Ernie Harwell was a SPECIAL man…

-If you missed Zach Britton on with Drew Forrester this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST; you can check it out in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault at WNST.net.

-Congratulations to today’s “Apologist of the Morning”, Steve Melewski from MASN. He wrote a great piece talking about how Luke Scott had a better slugging percentage than Brian Roberts last year-so we should defend Scott’s poor play this season.

That’s right. Luke Scott’s slugging percentage was better than the team’s leadoff hitter last year. That makes him a good player who deserves to keep his spot in the lineup.

Christ.

-The O’s and Yanks are back at it this afternoon in The Bronx; with David Hernandez facing licensed Orioles killer Andy Pettitte. First pitch is at 1:05pm. Follow us on Twitter (@WNST) during the game for humorous updates.

Maybe they should just throw him in the kicking competition too while they’re at it???

The Ravens have a TON of depth at linebacker. Terrell Suggs is backed up by Paul Kruger; Ray Lewis and Dannell Ellerbe are backed up by Tavares Gooden, Antwan Barnes, Jameel McClain, Jason Phillips, Prescott Burgess and Brendon Ayanbadejo; and Jarret Johnson is backed up by Sergio Kindle. Now add Edgar Jones to that mix.

I don’t think they’ll all be in East Rutherford the night the Ravens play the Jets.

If you missed Ravens center Matt Birk or QB Coach Jim Zorn with Drew this morning, they’re both up in the Audio Vault.

I haven’t had a chance to say much about the tragic situation at Virginia, and I probably won’t say much about it here, as we are MUCH too light-hearted for poignancy. The Cavaliers are probably doing the right thing by playing in the NCAA Tournament, but you can’t imagine it won’t have an impact.

“The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet” is a NDP grad, and I know the community there has been TERRIBLY shook by the news. Prayers for all of them and blessings to the Love family.

For as bad a start as Don Zimmerman’s Retrievers got off to this season, they have a realistic chance of making the NCAA Tournament-although they would likely have to play the conference championship game at Stony Brook this weekend.

They certainly have a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament than I do of getting to know Tulisa Contostavlos on a more personal level (Thanks Guyism!)…

The Tigers also HAVE to win their conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament, although it isn’t quite as steep a climb. They’ll be able to host the Championship game Saturday should they win tonight.

In a completely unrelated story, former Oregon cheerleader Amanda Pflugard is apparently a model now. I thought this was important enough to pass along (Thanks Busted Coverage!)…

Rumor has it that when asked about what he’ll do differently this time after failing to win at Churchill Downs; I believe he may have said…”Well I’m sure as hell not going to talk to that clown Glenn Clark before the race this time.”

As Drew Forrester and I pointed out today on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST, this one is a major championship. A real grand slam event. It’s akin to winning The Masters, or Wimbledon, or the U.S. Open.

The winner of this award now joins such legendary 1 time major champions as…

Fred Couples

Pat Cash

Davis Love III

Michael Chang

David Duval

And of course, the great Andy Roddick…

The nominees for “Apologist of the Months” included such former “Apologist of the Morning” winners and nominees as…

–Chris Stoner (who believes Felix Pie should be bronzed outside Camden Yards)
–Peter “The Professor” DiLutis (who knows more about baseball than myself, Drew, Jon Miller, Pat Gillick, George Steinbrenner and Tony Gwynn combined)
–Daniel Moroz aka @CamdenCrazies (who actually developed a math formula that has the Orioles in 1st place in the AL East currently)
–David Stevenson (who gets chills thinking about eerily similar Zach Britton is to Andy Pettitte)
–Jen Royle (who is also nominated for Yankees apologist of the month)
–Steve Melewski (who less than three weeks into the season was already beating the “real fans” drum)
–Andy MacPhail (who said competition with the Yanks and Red Sox was “insurmountable”)
–Dave Trembley (who went down the “This is your team, this is your city” route last week)

BUT…

None of them were ready to claim a major championship. Instead, they are forced to settle for runner-up status. Not everyone can win major championships. Mal Washington made the final at Wimbledon, but fell to Richard Krajicek. Sergio Garcia has finished in the Top 5 at the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open AND PGA Championship but still hasn’t broken through.

The first “Apologist of the Month” for 2010 is…

Neal S. from “The Loss Column”

I don’t know Neal, but I know he has a way with words. Here he waxes existentially about how being an Orioles fan is like being in the movie “Road House”…“Much like Dalton in Road House, we would reach a point where our participation in violence and struggle would be understood but never confused — internally or externally — with an endorsement of the same.

Do you enjoy watching the Orioles lose?Watching the Orioles lose don’t hurt.

More broadly, the notion is this: we must reach that place where we focus not on outcomes (wins, losses) but instead on moments. Whatever is happening before us, that is the game. We must approach the Orioles with neither expectations nor judgment. Ideally, we arrive at a point where there is no “last night’s game” or “next season” — only what there is.”

It’s such beautiful apology that I don’t know where to start. No need to focus on outcomes, let’s just soak it in. Breathe deep. Orioles baseball. Let’s go O’s! Take it all in. It might be a loss, but it happened! That’s what matters!

It’s a Happy Thursday for me because a Washington sports team suffered an unthinkably bad loss last night! Woo hoo!!!

(Edit from GMC: I’ve tried to hold back my disdain for the Washington Capitals for a few weeks. I can’t do it anymore. Screw them, and screw all of the people in DC who root for them. They’re the same people who root for the Redskins. I HATE the Redskins. And those insufferable fans down there, who TRULY believe they are real, authentic sports fans and deserve something from their pathetic, worthless sports franchises.)

There’s nothing that pleases me more than knowing that this old woman is probably crying again this morning…

She might want to keep those Kleenex nearby when Donovan McNabb gets hurt in Week 3. (Edit from GMC: I just knocked on wood out of fear that Joe Flacco might get hurt. PLEASE don’t get hurt Joe.)

1-Boy would it be nice to be able to root for a guy like this on MY team

2-He looks like a skinny Ray Bachman!

CC gave the Yankees just about what they paid for last night. He’s not always going to be perfect, but he’s going to win a lot more than he’s going to lose. He gave up more hits than I would have expected, but he was effective after he gave up hits. Not perfect, but damn good.

Jeremy Guthrie? Well, I didn’t like the Jeremy Guthrie I saw last night. He’s pitched well for the better part of the season. I hope we see more of that.

I also hope we see more of this…

As Tracy Morgan is the best thing that’s happened to MASN in like….ever.

Bitterness and cynicism happened in 2002. This is just plain indifference.

I can’t believe “Neal S” from The Loss Column somehow didn’t win “Apologist of the Morning” after this small piece of genius…

“I will say this, though: the horrendous start is not further proof of why folks are justified in staying away. Quite the opposite. Now is exactly the time to be there, More so than ever. That more fans don’t think this way is truly sad.”

Yep, people should feel bad because they choose not to pay a day of game service charge and a “premium game” service charge to sit with 20,000 fans from New York and watch a 4-17 team.

Very obviously Guthrie wasn’t TRYING to plunk Posada. That being said, when a team is forced to go from Jorge Posada to Fransico Cervelli, I can understand the frustration.

There are like 5,100,888 “unwritten” rules in baseball, so I’m guessing AJ Burnett will probably have to plunk…Ty Wigginton?? Wow, has it come to that? Maybe it’ll be Matt Wieters, but someone is getting thrown behind tonight.

And people wonder why other sports have become more popular than baseball.

And before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that they’re back at it tonight at OPACY-as Brian Matusz faces AJ Burnett at 7:05pm. We’ll be “Orange Crush”-ing at WNST.net.

And congratulations to the MASN staff (we chose Adam Dembeck to accept on their behalf) for being named “Apologist of the Morning.” Nick Markakis was a nominee for Game MVP last night. A game where the Orioles got their asses kicked.

Sometimes your big brother has to remind you that he’s still your big brother, huh?

Tony Seaman’s Tigers were down 8-0 to the Blue Jays AT HALF.

The Jays will still have to go to Loyola next Saturday and beat the Greyhounds to get into the Tournament, while the Tigers have to beat Hofstra to have a shot at an at-large berth. Towson could still get an automatic bid if they could win the CAA Tournament-and they’ll have the advantage of playing games at Unitas Stadium.

And if you’re a Towson fan who wants to feel better today, I think I can help you. Trust me on this-you’re still a winner. How? Well, let’s take a look at a picture of upcoming Towson grad and current WNST intern Genna to figure out how…

“Make Music for Me” is a much better name for a horse anyway. Endorsement isn’t a horse, it’s a political event!

I haven’t decided who I think is going to win this thing yet-but I know I’m going to look sharp walking the grounds in Louisville. I’ll be Twitpic-ing and Facebook-ing pictures (Add me as a friend if you’d like, just search “Glenn Clark.” I’ll be the guy labeled as “The Complete Package.”), so you’ll fully understand shortly.

The only way someone could look better is if Lizzy Caplan from True Blood showed up at Churchill Downs. (Thanks Guyism!)

It’s a Happy Wednesday for me because DESPITE the fact that the Phoenix Coyotes were eliminated last night, it was still a REMARKABLE season for me as a hockey fan. Not having a team here to root for, I created a slew of memories following a bad team in Phoenix, only to have it pay off with this incredible run.

And as I always say, there’s plenty still going on for sports fans in Arizona…

For everyone who has said something like “they weren’t going to lose EVERY game they played at Camden Yards this season”, the only response I could think of was “Are you sure?”

There was an announced paid crowd of 20,000 at The Yard last night, and maybe the number of fans was somewhere in that neighborhood. It was good to see most of them go home unhappy.

I’ve heard a lot of praise for Kevin Millwood’s effort last night, but I’ll go ahead and be the one to say it. 5 and a third from your number 1 pitcher is not good enough, by any stretch of the imagination. They need more than that.

Another disturbing number from last night’s game was the combined 1-16 effort the Orioles got from the first four hitters in their lineup (Adam Jones had a double and Matt Wieters had two walks; Nick Markakis and Miguel Tejada completely failed to reach base).

With the team having found some offensive success recently, I understand that Dave Trembley is looking for a little bit of continuity. With that in mind, I’m not suggesting any sort of offensive shakeup. But I AM suggesting that the players at the top of the lineup GET ON BASE.

Dear God can we PLEASE STOP MAKING THESE SO DIFFICULT IN THE 9TH INNING?!?!?!

I guess the team has discovered the solution though-make sure you’re ahead by at least 3 runs before you get to the 9th inning!

Cesar Izturis apparently wanted to make sure he found a way to make everyone forget about his 2-3, 3 RBI performance. Not running to first base on a ground ball in Seattle and not moving runners on 1st and 2nd over at Fenway Park would have been NOTHING compared to the beating he would have taken for that last night had Alex Rodriguez came through for the Bombers.

Alfredo Simon is (I guess), the guy for a little while. Apparently there was an epic moment before the game when Trembley asked Simon “Are you scared?”. Christ. Why didn’t he just go all the way and channel Gerard Butler???

But even this effort couldn’t wrap up “Apologist of the Morning” honors for Stan, as “The Great Arbitrator” Drew Forrester instead selected Steve Heiser from the York Dispatch; who offered “pity” for the Birds because they have to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees in the AL East.

Ugh.

Moving back to what Stan wrote-I don’t COMPLETELY disagree with him. This ISN’T Dave Trembley’s fault alone. The problem is, Goldberg doesn’t suggest accountability for others in the organization who feigned interest in “wins and losses” this season despite not having any interest in putting together a legitimate major league roster.

It’s one thing to say “this isn’t Dave Trembley’s fault”, as it isn’t Dave Trembley’s fault ALONE. However, Trembley CAN be blamed for mismanaging a bullpen, questionable decisions about baserunning, insane lineup shuffling, and for a noticeable lack of fire in the collective belly of the team.

If you want to spare Trembley that blame, you have to be willing to place fault on Andy MacPhail and the leadership of the franchise. This isn’t just “unfortunate circumstances” or “bad luck.” This is a dreadful baseball team-so dreadful that winning 2 straight games was celebrated last night in the way some cities might celebrate the World Series.

Before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that CC Sabathia faces Jeremy Guthrie tonight at Yankee Stadium south; first pitch is at 7:05, and the game can be seen on MASN. If someone paid their bill, the game might be seen on MASN-HD tonight as well!

And Shayne Graham has clearly been considered a shoe-in around the organization to be brought in and compete with Billy Cundiff for the gig.

Of course, it isn’t exactly a sexy list. It’s like having to pick a concert to go to from Nickelback, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. I GUESS I’m going to Nickelback, but I’m not exactly excited about it.

I expect Graham to be signed before mini-camp next weekend. They’ll want to give him an equal chance to make the team even before Training Camp. And if he wants to make the team, I’d suggest one thing…

With no offense to Willis, if I was picking someone to be the grand marshal of the race-I probably would have gone with Candice Boucher (Thanks Brosome.com!). I guess we just all have different ideas of what to look for in a grand marshal.

Add Duane Simpkins to the list of coaches who will say publicly (at least to me-and I believe he’ll be saying it on the air tomorrow with Bob Haynie on AM1570 tomorrow) that he wants the job. He’s currently coaching at St. Alban’s in Washington-and a lot of people hope he’ll help tap the DC recruiting pipeline more than Gary Williams’ staff has recently.

And don’t eliminate Xavier assistant Bino Ranson from the discussion. Despite once having Nestor Aparicio as a youth ball coach, the Baltimore product has quickly moved up the coaching pipeline; and had success this season under Chris Mack with the Musketeers. The Terps already have a Baltimore-based assistant in Keith Booth, but I’m not sure they’re completely thrilled with the endroads they’ve made here.

Still, it would very difficult for me to accept that someone coaching for the Terrapins was once coached by the Nasty One. He’s overcome greater obstacles than Michael Oher!